The Walking Dead: This Bitter Earth
by lanie-love09
Summary: Now that Rick and company are in the Alexandria Safe Zone, Michonne begins to struggle with the thought of having to live for each day instead of just making it. The center piece is Richonne, but everyone else from the season 5 finale will be in it as well.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I came up with story listening to Dinah Washington's "This Bitter Earth", here's a link to the song.** **watch?v=judyCgN2daA**

 **This story picks up in the earlier morning hours the day after Rick executes Pete in front of everyone, including Morgan.**

* * *

 _ **This - bitter earth**_  
 _ **Well, What a fruit it bears**_

 _ **What good is love**_  
 _ **Mmmmmmmm**_  
 _ **That no one shares...**_

* * *

 _"Thank God for the full moon", Rick heavily whispers before sucking Michonne's earlobe._

 _The moment he suckles the fleshy part of her ear, she become weak and submissive, "Yes, thank God" she answers anxiously._

 _Michonne quickly begins to unbutton Rick's shirt so he can continue his mission of foreplay._

 _The two go back to their sensual lip battle as she removes his shirt; Rick pulls her hip to the edge of bedroom dresser, ensuring that she feels his tungsten like erection pressing against her quivering pleasure switch inside her panties._

 _He pauses from the kiss to lightly glide his tongue along her luscious bottom lip while reaching his hand down to massage her protruding button covered by pointlessly thin fabric._

 _She sharply draws in her breath and promptly leans her head against the dresser mirror, unable to handle the wave of intense yearning that hits her entire body._

 _Her wetness changes the consistency of her underwear crotch dramatically; Rick watches as Michonne grows more powerless, "I never thought I'd ever feel satin panties again", he teases._

 _Michonne becomes lucid long enough to pull her night shirt over her head as he continues to arouse her clit, he looks down at her supple breasts and her inflexible nipples in the moonlight beaming in her bedroom window._

 _Wanting to hear her beg; Rick slides the crotch of her panties to the side allowing his fingers to enjoy her slippery lips, he leans down and slowly flicks each nipple with his tongue, "Tell me what you want Chonne, tell me", he whispers._

 _She vehemently shakes her head no, desperate to hold on to some sense of control._

 _He plunges two digits deep inside her sloppy canyon making her gasp in defeat. His finger thrusts move faster and faster while he sucks on her mountain peaks._

 _Wrapping both hands around his face, she pulls his head up to hers, "O.k. yes, you win" she pants, "I want you, I want all of you in me right now, please", she begs then kisses him again._

 _In between their passionate kiss she tells him, "I always wanted you, I always wanted this."_

 _Rick stops the fingering and looks at her oddly, "Really? Aren't you scared? Aren't you scared that I might die? Aren't you scared of getting pregnant again and losing another child because the father will be too weak to protect him? You're willing to plunge down that rabbit hole again, knowing the pain and heartbreak that's bound to happen?"_

 _Michonne instantly becomes alert by his words, "What?"_

 _She looks at him, "But, I never told you about Andre'."_

 _The next second she hears the cries of a baby in the corner of the room, she turns her head toward the cries then turns back towards Rick who's now standing in the middle of the moonlit bedroom._

 _"What the hell, how did Judith get in here", she asks hoping off the dresser to turn on the light._

 _Once she turns it on, she sees Andre' sitting in the corner of the room crying, and reaching his tiny arms for her._

 _She turns to look at Rick; instead she sees Mike standing in the middle of her bedroom; she looks at Mike in terror._

 _Mike shakes his head pitifully, "Why would you willingly go through this again."_

 _Before she has a chance to speak, in the blink of an eye Mike races over to bite Andre'._

* * *

Michonne wakes wildly from her nightmare knocking the nightstand lamp on the floor.

She hops out of bed to turn on the bedroom light to make sure that it was just a nightmare.

Looking around the room she holds her head in her hands trying to understand the meaning of the nightmare when she hears a knock at her bedroom door.

"Michonne, are you o.k.?" Rick asks.

She rushes toward the bedroom door before Rick turns the door knob to come in.

Opening the door only enough for Rick to see her face; she watches as Rick pulls a t-shirt over his head, "Yea, everything's fine I just knocked over the lamp by mistake."

He looks at Michonne oddly, "Why are you covered in sweat…" she remains silent not unable to come up with a suitable answer, "…Michonne let me in."

He pushes open door and walks in to survey the room. He looks at the lamp on the floor, then, looks back over at Michonne.

She leans against the wall clinching her eyes shut as she continues to collect her bearings.

Rick see Michonne's visibly shaken state; he walks over to her slowly and with a worried tone he asks, "Michonne are you alright, what happen?"

He comes face to face with Michonne and reaches for her shoulder to comfort her but she casually slides out of reach, "I'm fine, I told you I just knocked the lamp over in my sleep", she answers looking between the dresser and the corner.

Rick can clearly see that she's lying but knows that it best to leave the subject alone for now; he nods his head o.k.; looks at her with more concern, "Well, if you sure…" he reluctantly reaches for the door, "…if you need to…talk just knock on my door alright?"

Michonne tightens her lips and acknowledges the offer.

Once he closes the door behind him Michonne walks over to the corner where Andre' sat crying in her dream. She leans against the wall and silently begins to break down.

Sliding her way to the floor she sits with head on her knees; crying over the fact that her goal is complete.

On the road the plan was clear but, she didn't have a plan for what she might want if she ever made it to a place of relative safety. An opportunity to live instead of just surviving.

* * *

Later that morning, Rick walks downstairs dressed in civilian clothes; hears the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen; he sees Carl laughing at the table eating oatmeal, while Michonne laughs looking inside the refrigerator.

"Hey Dad", Carl laughs.

Michonne freezes hearing Carl's greeting to Rick; she holds still for a few more seconds then closes the refrigerator door to look at Rick.

She plants a less than genuine smile on her face takes a deep breath, "Hey."

Rick wrinkles his brow at her curiously odd greeting; with a half-smile he says, "Morning."

Looking down at his watch he turns to Carl, "You should get going if you want to finish your work in the garden before school this afternoon."

Carl gets up from the kitchen table to put his bowl in the sink, "Yea I'd better get going."

Michonne grabs her constable jacket off the chair, "Well let me walk you there."

Carl turns back to Michonne, "Michonne, you know I don't need an escort…I'm good. I'll catch you guys later."

Once Carl leaves, Michonne and Rick stand in an uncomfortable silence.

He walks over to the refrigerator to get an apple and closes the door, then rinses the apple in the sink, "So you wanna tell me what freaked you out last night?"

She get nervous; something that she's never displayed in front of Rick before, "I told you, I knocked the lamp over in my sleep."

He bites the apple watching as Michonne avoids eye contact with him.

Rick knows he won't get anything out of her like this so he changes the subject.

"Alright…for now", he finishes chewing the apple bite in his mouth, "I wanted to ask you about what I did at the meeting. When I…shot Pete, do you think I.."

Michonne didn't really care that Rick shot Pete the way he did at the meeting, having been a public defender early in her career she had absolutely no love or tolerance for men abusing woman and children.

She just wasn't concerned with the "Pete thing" anymore; a rush of feelings hit her in the wee hours that morning. Feelings that she couldn't decipher just yet, and she felt that she definitely couldn't figure them out being in Rick's presence.

"…I told you Rick I'm with you, no matter the situation or outcome." She puts on her jacket, "Look I'd better get over to Deanne's to see if can help with anything."

"Wait…" Rick says, "…Do you think I should go and check on Jesse and her kids?"

Michonne never let on that she saw Rick kiss Jesse at the party, she felt strange about the kiss he gave her. It wasn't jealousy that she felt at the time; it was just weird that he felt bold enough to kiss a married woman that he barely knew.

She didn't want to push him towards pursing Jesse but she just couldn't deal with _his_ problems "again" at the moment either.

"Perhaps you should just stay home with Judith for the day. Give these people sometime to adjust to what happened. That way you can talk with Morgan to see where his head is…to make sure he's not…dangerous anymore."

Rick drops his arm with the apple in his hand; nearly forgetting that Morgan witnessed the execution of Pete.

"I'll see you later", then she walks out the front door.


	2. Chapter 2: Just another normal morning

Rick watches Michonne from the living room window as she walks down the steps and up the block toward Deanna's house.

He starts to wonder why she doesn't have time to talk with him; to calm his fears. He's thinking that her sudden character change has to do with the dream she had the night before.

As she walks out of view; he hears footsteps coming down the stairs, when he turns around he sees Morgan and Daryl talking.

* * *

Morgan stops talking to smile at Rick, "Morning."

Rick's somewhat unnerved by Morgan's pleasant demeanor; he smiles cautiously, "Hey, can I get you some coffee?" He asks walking in to the kitchen.

Daryl and Morgan sit down at the kitchen table as Rick pours two cups of coffee; he passes one to Daryl and then offers the other to Morgan.

Morgan graciously declines then glances past Rick at the dozen or so apples in a large bowl sitting in the corner on the far end of the counter top, "I'd love some of those apples in that bowl over there, if you can spear a few?"

Rick ours himself a cup of coffee then removes the bowl from the counter and in front of Morgan, "Take as many as you like".

It wasn't long ago that Rick and company were damn near on the verge of starvation when Arron approached them about Alexandria. However, Morgan seems far more gracious then he was when he first arrived.

Morgan takes a large slow bite out of one of the apples, the expression on his face is one that Rick hasn't seen in a very long time; he's acting like that apple is the best tasting food in this world.

Rick tries to recall what pleasure used to feels like again; feeling joy first time; like your first high from sugar, caffeine, sex or adoration.

All those abundant sensibilities that most people took for granted in the old world; were very much rare in the new one.

He takes another bite while smiling at Rick and Daryl, "As many as I want huh?"

Rick responds again shaking his heads yes, "As many as you want."

So Morgan gets up and walks over to what he assumes is the cabinet with a frying pan; he looks over his shoulder, "How's about some fried apples for breakfast

* * *

Michonne is walking past the man-made lake towards Deanna's home when she sees Eric limping away from a small cubby-like corner of the community on the opposite side of the lake.

Eric appears to be pretty annoyed as he limps along on his crutches back over to his house.

She decides to go over and investigate; when she get there she sees Aaron vigorously digging away next to Aiden's gravesite.

Aaron turns around to see Michonne walking over; then goes back to shoveling.

Somewhat irritated he asks, "I suppose you're here to stop me from digging too?"

She doesn't answer.

He stops in mid dig, "Look I know that this had nothing to do with me but…it sort of does", Aaron turns around, "I was the one that told Deanna about Pete being a drunk and how volatile he gets when he's drunk. I told her that she needs to do something; but she didn't trust me at the time after what had happened with Davidson."

Aaron begins digging again, huffing and puffing he goes on to explain, "We've had some problems with newcomers in the past."

"I mean I love him but, sometimes Eric thinks that I'm like him", he looks back again at Michonne, "I used to go on assignments in parts of the world where human beings killed and raped children for sport. However, there isn't much that you can do when you're being held at gunpoint.

So my adjusting to this new world isn't as hard for me as it is for others."

"But this is different; Reggie was a decent man, a smart man. He could see both sides of the coin…but now…"

Michonne doesn't say a word as Aaron unloads his thoughts; she starts removing her jacket then grabs another shovel leaning against the steel wall.

She walks back over and begins digging in the same whole that Aaron's created.

"You don't have to do this." He tells her.

She looks up at him, "I've had to dig plenty of graves recently and each time I was always grateful when someone cared enough to help…", she looks up at him, "…in silence."


	3. Chapter 3: Reasons

"So you think these wolves are going to be a problem?" Rick questions Daryl.

"I don't know; depends on where they are and if they know about this place" he answers.

They pause moment to watch how happy Morgan is about frying fresh apples slices in a frying pan.

Rick slowly turns back to Daryl, "So you think we should go looking for them."

"That trap Morgan found us in was at least 50 miles away, it would take too many resources and people to try and track them right now."

Morgan places a bowl in front of Rick and Daryl along with some forks and cloth napkins; he pours some apples from the frying pan in to the bowl in front of Daryl then the one in front of Rick, "I wouldn't worry too much about those, 'Wolves' right now."

Before Rick can fork some apples in to his mouth he asks, "And why's that?"

Morgan sits down at the table with his own bowl of fried apples then begins blowing his forkful of apples, "Because I ran in to two of them early in the morning yesterday", he places the fork in his mouth and savors the taste.

Rick drops his fork, 'What? What happened what did they say?"

"They were just two punk kids looking to take what little I had. They weren't a real threat to me."

Daryl starts eating the apples, "How do you know they were a part of this group?"

"They had w's written on their foreheads; the one guy says that's what they do. They go looking around for survivors or groups, take what they have and kill them." Morgan explains as he happily continues to eat.

Rick rubs his eyes at Morgan nonchalant attitude towards this potential threat. He considers what Michonne said before she left earlier about checking to so see if Morgan is still dangerous.

"So you killed them right?" Rick asks.

Morgan instantly stops eating, "No."

"You let them live!" Rick asks loudly.

"They were just a couple of kids trying to find a way to survive; there was a skirmish but I knocked the both of them out; put them in the back seat of an abandon car and went on my way."

Daryl quickly finishes his apples as he can see that Rick is a little more than ticked off with Morgan information, "Look I'm gonna go do a perimeter check, warn whoever's on tower duty about what we saw yesterday."

* * *

Rick slowly begins to eat his apples and shakes his head, "You do remember the last time we saw each other right? You were ready to kill me, Carl and Michonne. Now you're letting people who are clearly trying to take your life? That's a damn near incredible transformation don't you think?"

"I remember", Morgan says, "I remember that you took a knife to the shoulder from me and still you refused to kill me. Now I find you being an executioner, so I think the both of us have gone through a transformation to say the least.

Rick you killed that man on command; no trial or jury and you didn't blink. It was like you wanted to kill him."

Rick falls back against his chair, "He's been a threat all along, he was beating on his wife and kids then he kills Reggie by mistake…"

"So you knew he killed that man by mistake and yet you shot him in cold blood. Did his wife and kids say that he was beating on them" Morgan questions.

After considering the whole of the events that's taken place over the past two days he tell Morgan, "Look there's been a couple of people that have confirmed that this man was a problem. In my experience so far these small problems turn in to larger problems. I'm being…proactive."

Morgan gets up from the table with his bowl then grabs Daryl's, "That's being proactive, shooting a man dead for accidentally killing another?"

"Listen Deanna's in charge around here, she said to kill him so…and I'd already talked with his wife and she said that she wanted me to help her."

"Uh huh" was all that Morgan could say at the moment. After he finishes drying off the dishes he turns around, "Before you shot this Pete guy; did you consider what his wife wanted or maybe what his children wanted? And if she wanted to leave do you think that anyone would force her to stay with an abusive husband?"

* * *

Carol comes downstairs with Judith she pauses in the living room as Rick and Morgan are talking; she places Judith in the playpen then quietly walks over to the edge of the wall to listen to their conversation.

"Look Rick I'm not questioning what you did; but you just didn't struck me as a man so easily influenced to take another man's life at the snap of somebody's fingers. If someone, this leader Deanna wanted Pete dead why didn't she do it herself; if his wife was didn't want to be with this man why didn't she just take the kids and leave? All I'm saying is, did you kill Pete for your own motives or did you do it for someone else's?"

Judith begins to babble loudly; now that her covers been blown Carol walks in to the kitchen.

"Good morning" she announces.

Morgan brightens up once Carol walks in, "Good morning."

"So the man that saved Rick, I'm Carol", she extends her hand.

He reaches out to shake her hand, "I'm Morgan."

Rick got lost in Morgan's question then looks over at Carol oddly, "Morning."

"Can I fix you some fried apples?" Morgan asks.

"Oh no thank you, I've got senior citizen duty first thing this morning, Rick I've already fed Judith a bottle but she'd probably love some of those fried apples", she looks back at Morgan, "They smell delicious."

Morgan smiles at Carol, "Well that's some real honorable work you're doing."

Carol grins, "Yea, I guess. So I'll see the two of you later."

Carol shuts the front door behind her and stands on the front porch for a moment trying to think of a way to cover her own motives for wanting Pete dead.


End file.
